


Que Sera Sera

by lost_spook



Series: 50 Ficlets - Claim Kenny Phillips, Press Gang [17]
Category: Press Gang
Genre: Community - 50ficlets, Episode Tag, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, episode s0303 Chance Is A Fine Thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-04
Updated: 2010-11-04
Packaged: 2017-10-13 01:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/pseuds/lost_spook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kenny seems to have a lot in common with his Grandad.  This is only probably a good thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Que Sera Sera

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ comm 50ficlets prompt 'Time and Tide'.
> 
> Ref to S3 episode _Chance is a Fine Thing_ (in which Kenny finds an old love letter his Grandad, Sean Phillips, never received).

_Kenny: "Do you realise, if it wasn't for a coincidence of floorboard repair and post fifty odd years ago, I wouldn't exist? I just find that weird. Scary. My whole life is the result of some dumb mistake. I feel like I'm not supposed to be here. Is that sounding, like, really dumb and stupid?"  
Lynda: "Yes. Come on, let's get some more coffees and see who we can fire from graphics." _ (S3, Chance is a Fine Thing)

*

 **1940**

He'd finally worked up the nerve to ask her out, and now she's gone, over to safety in Canada with her family. They are the lucky ones, with relatives there. He's sure he'll never see her again with so many miles between them and the world itself off-kilter. He still hopes, because she'd said she liked him. She looks like a film star in his eyes, though, and he's sure she only agreed that time because she felt sorry for him.

He writes, though, because he promised, and he always keeps his word. She writes back, and given the way the everything is falling apart around them, he thinks he may as well ask. At least at this distance, she can't laugh in his face.

No, Christine wouldn't do that, he amends. She's too kind-hearted. He steels himself to write the letter, throws it away, and writes another. He even has the nerve to post it this time. Wait another week and he might not be here. The way things are going, London might not even be here. The future has never been less certain, and thinking of her is the one thing that's keeping him going through these days, preparing to go overseas, when he's never been cut out to be a hero of any sort.

So, he posts it, and waits. She never writes back, and he can't bring himself to try again. He knew he should never have got his hopes up, and he can't ask for more heartbreak by asking why. There's even a dark suspicion that maybe she isn't in the same world as him any more, and he doesn't want to hear that.

So, his heart breaks, but that's a small thing compared to the events that are taking place, and like everyone else he soldiers on, does his bit, and when he's asked how he is, he says "Mustn't grumble" same as the rest. How can you do anything else when these days everyone is one of the walking wounded, whether you can see it or not?

Call it Fate, or Destiny, or whatever you like, but life has a strange sense of humour.

*

 **1990**

If Sean Phillips notices that his grandson seems to be in an odd mood when he returns from his visit to Glasgow, he says nothing about it, even though when he thanks him for finally fixing that floorboard, Kenny seems strangely keen to switch the subject.

"Would you change anything?" Kenny asks later, out of nowhere, and looks at his Grandad. "If you could have your whole life again, would you change anything?"

Sean Phillips laughs. He doesn't know what it is that's worrying Kenny this time, but he knows the answer to that one. "Of course not," he says, the laughter turning into a cough – age catches up with you like that. "All of that – it's who I am. Besides, what have I got to complain about?"

"Good," says Kenny, looking relieved. "Great."

He shakes his head. "Let's not talk about the meaning of life," he says, with a wink. "It's been a tiring enough day as it is."

"Yeah, it's not a popular topic round here," Kenny agrees, and goes to make him a coffee instead.

And beneath them and between them lies the secret hidden under the floorboards that Kenny isn't going to confess to knowing, and the dusty old love story his grandfather is never going to tell.


End file.
